


'Til We're Old and Blue

by frickidydooda



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drama Nerd!Marco, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Jock kid!Jean, M/M, Nonbinary Hange, a lot of musical refrences, eventually, maybe too many, pretty much all of the adults are teachers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-27
Updated: 2015-01-10
Packaged: 2018-03-03 19:33:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2882147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frickidydooda/pseuds/frickidydooda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean Kirschetin's life has been next to perfect for the past three years: he's on the football team, popular, and wealthy. The worst he's expecting his first day of his Junior year at Trost High is freshmen. He never guessed he'd meet a new kid from Jinae with an awkward hair cut, a nervous smile, and enough freckles to last a lifetime and end up befriending him. And as time passes, he may find that his feelings for this boy who loves belting out show tunes and watching Hairspray one too many times may cross the line between friendship and more-than-friends.</p><p>However, Jean may come to find that even he's been fooled by Marco's acting abilities into believing that his happiness and optimism is merely a façade to hide a more troubling secret.</p><p>Basically, jock Jean falling in full-homo with drama kid Marco filled with lots of bad sexual tension thanks to Phantom of the Opera and gym classes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. We Belong Way Down Below

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this AU popped into my head last month and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. So I present to you: football running-back Jean K. and I-Know-Everything-About-Musicals Marco B. !
> 
> This is my first attempt at writing a multi-chapter, angst-y fic so bear with me on this, hehe. This chapter is mainly action-based, but I'm hoping it'll run a bit smother once I get this first arc rolling! ;D
> 
> Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Sometimes you remember something someone has said to you before you even realize how much it really means to you. I recall him sitting beside me, his freckles, which I would come to soon adore, glowing under the light of my lamp, his eyes serious but still gentle as he assessed me, as he had a tendency to do. I recall how strong and unwavering his voice was as he said to me: “Life has a way of hiding the things you think you need and handing you those that you didn’t think you needed.”

 

The only way to survive high school without major emotional and psychological damage is by being: white, male, straight, attractive, and athletic. All of which easily described me before everything went to Hell and back, but for the best as I’d later find.

Ah yes. My beloved Letterman jacket could tell you everything you needed to know about me at the time. On the back you got the prestigious name Kirschtein. You’d have to ask for the first, but it was perhaps as well-known as the last: Jean. On the right arm you got my class (at the time, Junior). On the left, you found out not only what I was lettering in, but also what position. That was, again, well-known info: Football, running back. Best damn one that school had ever seen. And all of that in green and yellow. The official colors of the Titans.

Yes, I was one of those douchebag jocks. Give me some credit though. I had the excuse of being a formerly scrawny, wiry-haired, retro glasses-wearing loser who had gotten hot and athletic between eighth grade and freshmen year. Just in time for football tryouts. Gosh, lucky me indeed. I had a valid reason for wanting popularity due to something other than daddy’s thick wallet. I really had no reason to complain with being thought of as a dick. At least I wasn’t a dweeb anymore.

 

Again, I didn’t know at the time, but the first day of junior year was when it all started, cliché as it sounds. I woke up that morning as tired and groggy as I recalled waking up on the last day of school two months prior. I immediately began to regret staying up so late the night before and allowing my sleep schedule to become so fucked up over break. My eyelids were heavy and glued together by disgusting sleep gunk. I nearly destroyed my alarm clock by punching it with as much hate and pain as one can inflict upon an inanimate object. It took all of ten minutes to shower, towel-dry my hair and throw some clothes on. Most others tried looking nice on the first day but I was far passed needing or wanting that. Besides, “most others” in that context were freshmen. I wanted as little to do with them as possible.

The drive to school was uneventful, save for the damn traffic. The middle school was semi-connected to the high school; it was across the parking lot, and we shared a soccer field. As you can imagine, that means traffic that could rival that of the holidays. Seeing as how I’d only just gotten my driver’s license that April, this was the first year I’d ever driven myself to school and boy, was it an experience. Some little blonde nearly rammed the back of my Fusion I used solely for school.

“Get the fuck off my ass!” I shouted towards the rear view mirror. Why did girls always feel the need to apply makeup while they were driving?

I groaned and pulled into the student parking lot. It was already full and flowing with students. Driving around for a good few minutes, I finally found a parking spot not too far from the front door that would work until I could buy a semester parking pass. From the driver’s seat, I could see the football field. It was foggy and hard to make out, but just looking at it made me feel more at ease. I’d heard many of my athletic friends say just being near their field or court or even their equipment made them feel more relaxed and helped them clear their mind. I could easily say I agreed. I couldn't wait for season to begin.

I grabbed my bag and turned the car off, stuffing my keys into an inside pocket of the bag. The sound of my thrumming bass had ceased and was replaced by the quieter murmur of teenagers laughing and talking with the background noise of engines and tires kicking out stray bits of gravel.

I had made it halfway up the parking lot when I heard the groan of a coughing engine and squeaky breaks pull up behind me. A horn honked just behind me, making me jump and drop my bag.

“Fuck!” I cursed. With a groan, I turned around to see the front of a rusty, old pick-up truck that was probably older than I was. Sadly, I couldn't say I didn't recognize it. In the front seats were two teenagers who were smiling and laughing at my expense. “Damn you, Connie!”

The shaved-headed kid driving honked again before turning into an empty spot just ahead of me. I waited as the engine was killed and my two friends got out.

“Jea~n!” Sasha’s shrill voice shrieked. She came running towards me, arms thrown open. I didn't even try to dodge as she grabbed me into a giant tackle-hug. A _hackle¸_ as she’d called. “Mah baby boi! I missed ya! I haven’t seen you since like, what, June? Too long, Jean, too long.”

“You’re crushing him, Sasha. I don’t think Coach Levi will be very happy with you if you injure his star running back before season even starts,” Connie said to the red-head. He grabbed her bag and pulled her off me. We started towards the building. I was so thankful for the sparse freshmen in the parking lot, save for the occasional one who hitched a ride with an upperclassmen sibling or friend. It was too early to deal with squealing and screaming.

“No coffee today?” Connie asked me, looking at my empty hands.

“Nah. We were out of creamer. I wasn't going to drink it black.”

“Weaaaaak,” Sasha taunted. She was notorious for drinking coffee right out of the pot. She’d been working in a coffee shop for two years and had weaned herself off of sugar and creamer. Now she acted like she was The Coffee Guru and that all of her friends needed to be enlightened on how horribly they were drinking their bean water.

I rolled my eyes. “Sasha, if you take anything else out of your coffee, you’re going to be chewing on beans.”

She shoved me on the arm. We all laughed as we started up the stairs towards the doors into the building.

 

Once we were inside, we saw that the clocks read eight twenty-four. We had six minutes to kill. Fun. I could already hear the screaming of the 14 year-old demons down the hall. God, it was going to be a tough year. “Wanna grab something from the vending machines?”

Connie sighed. “I don’t have my wallet. Plus, I’m saving up.”

I pulled my wallet out of my pocket. “I’ll pay.” I grabbed three one-dollar bills. “Here.”

“No, I’m not taking your money.” Connie shoved his hands in his pockets.

“You’re not taking it, I’m offering it.” I pushed it towards him again.

“Jean…” Even Sasha – the girl who was notorious for eating whenever she could – seemed reluctant.

I groaned and held it back out one more time. “Guys. Seriously. Take it. Get something. I’m offering it and I've got plenty to burn. Either you take it or I’ll buy the food with it and I’ll shove it down your throat.”

Both stared at my hand offering them the money. Even though it was such a small amount, I knew how much they really hated borrowing any amount of money. Neither came from a family as lucky with money as I was. Because of this, I tried even harder to pay for them whenever possible but they were only inclined to push back even more. It was a never-ending cycle of push and pull.

Finally, they took the dollar bills.

Once Connie was holding his dollar, he said, “One of these days, Kirschtein, I’m gonna shove that wallet way up your ass so you won’t keep buying things for us.”

I smirked at him as the vending machines filled with health food loomed nearer.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

 

I still had my bag of flavorless, oven-baked Lay’s sour cream and onion chips when I got to first period. This year, I was lucky enough to have World History and Geography first period, which was known as the class where Mr. Ness really didn’t give a crap. I mean, World History in general was known as a rather easy class, so I could see a few naps in this class in the near future.

Of course, as first days go, it had to start with role.

Mr. Ness picked up a clip board and walked to the front of the class. “Okay…Mikasa Ackerman?”

Hell yes. My eyes scanned the room until they landed on the girl in question. God, I still hadn’t gotten over her. I believed I never would. Her gorgeous, luxurious black hair was finally long enough again to be pulled back, as she had it. Her signature red scarf was wound around her neck as always. Had she gotten hotter over break? She had to.

I’d had a crush on Mikasa since seventh grade. At that time, the only interaction I’d had with her at all was when she was talking with Armin Arlet, a former best friend of mine. And damn, was I in love with everything about her. Then, come freshmen year when I’d actually managed to become attractive and athletic, I’d become “friends” with Eren Jaeger who also joined football. Mikasa was Eren’s adopted sister and they were hardly ever separated. That meant more time with Mikasa than ever before, although I’d never forgive Jaeger for telling her to cut her hair.

Of course, she had turned down all of my advances. After the third time I’d asked her out to coffee, Armin had told me to give it up. Apparently she was as interested in dating as she was with giving up her position as Captain on the volleyball team. Didn’t stop me from still finding her attractive as hell.

 

“Here,” she said coolly. Her grey eyes were unwavering as always.

“Armin Arlet?” Mr. Ness continued.

A small voice came from the back of the room. “Here.”

I refused to turn around to look at him. I had done something really dickish a few years to him that I refused to acknowledge to even him and I knew if I looked at him, that feeling of guilt I’d tied to him would come stirring up in the pit of my stomach. I pushed out the memory of what I’d done and focused on picking at the dirt under my nails.

Mr. Ness went through a couple more names, all that I knew. Reiner Braun, the senior linebacker for football, who I’d come to be relatively good friends with. Mina Carolina, who I only knew as a sophomore on the swim team with the pigtails. Hannah Diamant, a senior.

“Eren…J-…Jagg…”, the guy struggled. I smirked. _Please call him Jagger, please call him Jagger, please call him—_

“Jaeger,” Eren’s voice said. I internally groaned. Dammit. So close to being able to make a Mick Jagger joke.

Eren and I had…a complicated relationship. He and I met eighth grade year. Again, through Armin. However, he was even cockier then than he was now. I hated his guts and he hated mine. Armin and Mikasa had to actively keep us separated to make sure someone didn’t end up dead. The next year, at football practice, he and I had nearly ripped each other’s throats out trying to outdo one another. In the end, it apparently helped us and we both got on the team with great positions. After that, we’d gotten to becoming what Armin had referred to as “frenemies”. We were still often trying to one-up one another and honestly the occasional urge to punch him in the face was nearly unbearable, but we could still talk and joke and actually have fun. For short periods of time.

 

“Jaeger…alright. Umh…” He kept going. “Urm…J…John…? Kir…”

“Jean,” I said from my seat. Happened every year. “Jean Kirschtein.”

He looked at me. “Jean… Is that French?”

I nodded. “Yup.”

He nodded before going back to his clipboard and calling out names. After a solid three minutes of calling out names and learning pronunciations, he tapped the clipboard with his pencil. “Anybody I missed?”

They asked that every year but never got a response, so I expected for him to get straight to all the boring stuff about syllabi and credits and rules and blah blah blah…

“U-um…You didn’t call me…” a timid voice said from the back of the room. Curiously, I turned to look. In the back with his hand raised was a kid who looked like he was scared out of his mind. His dark hair was parted down the middle and looked like it had been recently cut, but maybe a bit too recently as it hadn’t quite grown in yet. I couldn’t really tell from the distance, but it looked like he had just ordinary brown eyes, but at that moment they were big and scared. I didn’t recognize him which was odd because I knew practically everyone. Their face, at least. I mean, unless he was a freshmen, but he looked way too old to be a freshmen and not quite as annoying.

Mr. Ness clicked his tongue as he scanned the sheet in his hands. “Name?”

“Uh..M-Marco Bodt…?” the boy said, sounding almost as if he were unsure.

“Hrrmm…” Mr. Ness scratched at his balding head. “Oh…wait hold on…Bodt?” He rushed over to his laptop, typing away on it. “Oh, yes! I remember now…Here you are. You’re fine, Mister Bodt.”

The boy seemed to relax a little. He leaned back into his seat and looked down at the books on his desk. I watched for a second as he fiddled with his sleeves before I turned back around in my own desk. With a heavy sigh, I slid down the plastic backing of the chair until I was sure I’d fall out if I went any farther. Perfect position.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

First, second, and third period came and went without much incident. That kid from first period was already in two of my classes and honestly, I was starting to mentally question him out of pure boredom. Why wasn’t his name on the roster? Why was he so scared when he wasn’t called? What grade was he in? Was he a new kid? Was that why I’d never seen him around before?

I was so entranced in my little mental world that I almost completely walked by the cafeteria. With a hop backwards, I walked through the doors. There was no question as to where I was sitting. It had been pretty much a written rule that the athletic kids sit at the two tables closest to the doors. Friends were allowed too, of course, but it was by invitation. You couldn’t just sit there or else you’d probably get an elbow in the ribs and your bag thrown across the cafeteria.

I dumped my own bookbag next to what I immediately recognized as Connie’s sad excuse for a messenger bag.

If you’ve ever been in a public school lunch line, you’ll know what hell it is. Our school had two lines: one for whatever choice one was and another for whatever choice two was. Even with it cut into two lines, it took a good five minutes to actually get your food, then maybe another three to pay and be out of there. It takes forever. So you can’t really blame me for maybe sneaking around a few people to join Connie and Sasha who were farther in line than me, can you? We’re all going to the same place, getting the same thing. One person skipping ahead in line won’t kill anyone.

When I joined them, they were animatedly talking about something. Sasha was waving her hands about, looking like she was trying to do a poor imitation of a Disney character during a song. Connie was nodding and laughing.

Once the red-headed girl saw me, she broke whatever character she was doing to smile. “Jeany-boi! There you are! How’d your classes go?”

Shrug. “Fine. Boring. All going over syllabi and shit. Same as every first day.”

She nodded. “I know your pain. Well actually…I just left Hange’s class and they’re as fun a teacher as they are a director!”

Hange was a biology teacher, but also the drama club director, a club that Sasha was very fond of and loved to gush over. Hange was…eccentric. A bit too much for my taste. It was all about being theatrical and loud and _You must project more if anyone’s ever going to hear you!_ or _You look perfect for one of the roles in our up-coming show…have you ever been in a show before?_ Even in their biology class, I’d heard that they were always bouncing around, getting excited about everything from macromolecules to ecosystems.

There was also the fact that they were non binary. They didn’t identify as male or female or really anything, a concept that I couldn’t quite wrap my head around. I honestly would have called them she except for the fact that Sasha nearly punched me in the face for calling them ‘her’ once, so it was kind of an unspoken rule that you used the they/them/their pronouns for them. That took some practice.

 

We finally were able to get our food (cardboard-like pizza) and pay. When we were seated, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Eren were all sitting down.

“Hey, can I borrow someone’s bag?” Eren asked. “I need to save two seats but I’ve only got one bag.”

I pushed mine towards him, since he was sitting in front of me. “Here.”

“Thanks, Horse Face.”

“No problem, Jagger.”

“Why are you saving two seats?” Connie asked Eren. He took a big bite of pizza. “I frought Mrkasa wras at a murteng?”

Eren dumped my bag on one of the seats next to him. “She is. Armin told me he’s coming to sit with us and he’s bringing someone with him. He said some new kid.”

I swallowed uneasily. Armin was coming to sit with us? Great. More looking around awkwardly at everything except him and trying to talk to him without talking _to_ him.

“Speak of the devil!” Reiner said as Armin walked up with his tray in hand.

“Are you calling me the devil, Reiner?” the blond laughed.

“It’s an expression, oh my god!” he groaned. “Everyone says that and I wanna--!”

Armin laughed again. “I’m joking with you! You weren’t too far from the truth anyway.” He gave the giant football player a playful wink as he sat down in the seat next to him.

Beginning in my task to avoid making eye contact with Armin Arlet, I looked around. I realized that Armin’s plus-one must have been the kid standing awkwardly behind him. I recognized him as that one kid from first period whose name hadn’t been on the roster.

“You can sit down, you know!” Armin laughed to the kid. “I’m pretty sure this is just…Jean’s bag…?” He heaved my bookbag onto the table and pushed it towards me. I grabbed it as quickly as I could. Even though I didn’t mean for it to, it slammed on the ground a little harsher than I’d have liked. “They won’t bite. I promise.”

The kid’s eyes flitted from the seat to all of us. He finally set his tray down on the table and slid onto the plastic seat.

“So,” Reiner began. “What’s your name?”

Up close, the kid looked slightly less like he was going to shit his pants out of fear. I noticed one major feature about him I hadn’t before: freckles. All over his cheeks and nose. There were even two that followed the shape of his right eyebrow. It was actually kind of endearing. “Marco,” he replied. He had a bit of an accent that I hadn’t noticed before.

Reiner nodded, as though it was better than any other name he could have said. “So, Marco. You play any sports?”

He shook his head. “No, not anymore. I used to swim up until eighth grade.” I tried to place what kind of accent it was, what area.

Eren spoke up this time. “Why’d you stop?”

Marco shrugged. He was staring at his lap, looking like he was concentrating on not looking at anyone. “I um…just couldn’t anymore.”

Bertholdt spoke up for once. “You’re new here?”

Marco looked up. He smiled slightly and nodded. “Yeah. I moved to live with my mom and sister.”

“Where’d you move from?” Armin asked.

“Jinae.” Aha! It _was_ a southern accent. All I knew about Jinae was that it was a small, not quite rural but not really suburban town a couple states down. Definitely considered southern.

“I’ve heard it’s really pretty there!” Sasha said.

Marco smiled even more. He seemed like he was getting a bit more comfortable in a conversation he could participate in. “It is. We have a lot of old oaks and Spanish moss and during the spring and summer, it hangs really low and some roads have arches of old oak tree branches over it. It’s beautiful.”

“You know,” Connie said. “They have things like that back where my grandparents live.”

A conversation about trees and what the prettiest place everyone had been started. I was more inclined to listen and only comment when someone asked me something. It was far more fun for me to observe.

Before long, it was five minutes until the bell. We all threw our food out and went to gather our things.

Armin turned to Marco. “What’s your next class?” he asked him.

“Um,” Marco said. He pulled what I assumed was his schedule out of his bag. “Spanish with…Zaccharius?”

That sounded familiar. I reached deep into my bag until I found a crumpled paper with my schedule on it. “I’ve got that next, too. What the hell, Marco, you following me around? You’re in three of my classes already.”

He chuckled. “You’ve caught me! I’ve been secretly following you for the past few weeks. I moved here just to be with you at last.”

I laughed. At least he had a sense of humor. “Come on, Jinae, I’ll walk with you. You can consider it your first stalker date.”

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

The rest of the day went by faster than any other first day I could recall, which was lucky considering first days are boring as hell. I had some pretty good classes, but first impressions could be very deceiving. I groaned internally as I thought about my seventh grade math teacher. She’d seemed like such a cool person, but she was just a huge bitch. But I digress.

At least I had football training fifth period with Coach Smith. Even though he wasn’t the football coach – in fact, he was the soccer coach -, he still supervised us in the weight room. Coach Levi, the football coach, would trade periods with him once season started so he could start setting everything up and getting us outside on the field.

Somehow, Sasha and Connie had gotten to Connie’s rusty metal deathtrap he called a truck before I got to my car because they pulled up beside me and slowed down. Sasha leaned across Connie, which made him look very uncomfortable. “Hey Jean! I forgot to tell you! My parents said I can have a back-to-school party soon! You’re invited! But you have to bring food. Get your mom to make bacon jalapenos she does so well!” They drove off before I could respond. I just shook my head. I had some eccentric friends.

When I got in my car, I looked across the parking lot again to see the football field. An odd feeling swelled in my chest. If felt like something heavy had plopped right on top of my ribcage. The feeling was like a mix of longing and knowing something big was to come, similar to how animals can sense when something bad is about to happen. A literal storm for them, a figurative one for me.

I cranked my car and pulled out of the parking spot.


	2. Come On It's Such a Joy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of course, the only thing a student can look forward to is a party and Jean is no exception.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bluh I didn't mean for this to take 2 weeks to write! I had a lot of trouble writing this though because I hate exposition and school just started back and the opening night for my own drama show is one week from today, so you can imagine how that goes.
> 
> With that said, you get introduced to a few headcanons of mine, as well as an...interesting idea my friend and I thought up a long time ago and I love for this story! So enjoy!

The next two weeks went by with relatively no incident. They were slow and filled with more signing papers and reading over syllabi and doing get-to-know-each-other activities that made you feel like a five year-old. Mikasa returned to her normal seat with us at lunch (praise god), and so Armin went back to sitting with his marching band friends. I didn’t talk to that Marco kid again (even though he turned out to be in five of my classes), save for a few quick statements that would earn a small laugh from him in Spanish class here and there. I didn’t seek him out, he didn’t seek me.

The Wednesday of the second week back, my phone vibrated against my leg while I was home, working on homework that no one needed this early in the year. I set my pencil down and pulled my phone out.

 

**SASHA BRAS: jeaaaaan**

**SASHA BRAS: jeaaaaaaaaaaan**

**SASHA BRAS: r u there? its about the party respoooooond**

With a roll of my eyes, I slid my thumb across the screen. Rather thankful for the distraction, I typed a response.

 

**ME: what is it sash**

She responded quickly. Embarrassingly so.

 

**SASHA BRAS: the partys gon b frtday**

**SASHA BRAS: *friday**

**ME: ok cool**

**SASHA BRAS: its gon b at my hosue**

**SASHA BRAS: *house dammit**

**SASHA BRAS: i wasnt kiddin about bringin food tho**

**ME: have you ever joked about food**

**SASHA BRAS: got me yhere**

**SASHA BRAS: FUCK *there**

**SASHA BRAS: anyway b there by**

**SASHA BRAS: idk how bout 6**

**ME: works for me**

**SASHA BRAS: gr9!!! see u later u nerd**

 

I dropped my phone on the cushion beside me. I knew that I should get back to my work, but by that time I was already bored out of my mind. I set my binder and paper on the coffee table in front of me and, while I was leaned forward, grabbed the remote in its place.

Just as a new episode of _Law & Order: SVU_ began, I heard the kitchen door open and the familiar sound of high heels clicking on the oak floors.

“Jean?” my mom’s shrill voice called out. So much for wanting to watch TV. She clicked into the living room where I was sitting. “How was your day, _mon petit ange_?”

“Fine,” I responded.

She leaned down and pressed a lipsticked kiss to the top of my head, earning a groan from me. “Is that your homework? Did you finish?”

“Nah.” Come on, Mom. Elliot was explaining the motive, I needed to hear!

She pouted her lips as she often did and put her hands on her hips. “Jean, if you start procrastinating on your work this soon, your grades are going to slip…fast! If this year ends up like last year, I’m going to have to have a talk with Coach Levi.”

That was Mom’s passive way of saying ‘Do your homework or else.’ With another groan, I leaned forward and grabbed my papers and binder.

“Your father’s getting home late tonight, so how about I heat up some leftovers?” she asked as she walked into the kitchen again. Her heels were still loud and ringing in the uncarpeted house. _Click, click, click._ Just take the damn things off already!

“Fine.”

She sighed audibly. “Do you ever say anything else? _Mon Dieu_ , you sound like your father.”

I was about to reply when I remembered the party and what Sasha had said about bringing food. “Hey, Mom? Sasha’s having a back-to-school party Friday at her house and she wanted us to bring some sort of snack food thing. Could you cook those cheese jalapeño things you do?” I hoped off the couch and bounded into the kitchen.

She looked up from where she was standing by the granite island in the middle of the kitchen. “Oh, yeah, sure thing honey. Just jalapeños? Do they need anything else? Drinks? Napkins?”

Mom knew as well as I did about Sasha’s family’s financial struggles. In fact, Mom knew that many of my friends weren’t the most financially stable. But she did everything she could to indirectly help.

“No, I don’t think they’d accept it. Besides, knowing Sasha, she’s going to eat with her fingers.” I leaned against the counter.

Mom smiled softly as she began to pull her jewelry off. “Alright, _trognon_. Just tell me if you change your mind. I can make them tomorrow. They should be ready by Friday.” She walked over to me and wrapped her arms around me and swayed us both from side to side as she tended to do with playful hugs. Her shirt smelled like her Chanel perfume and it made me relax a bit. When she pulled back, she smiled and ran a hand through my hair. “Now go finish your homework before I have to make a call to Coach Levi!”

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Friday came relatively quickly after that. At lunch, Sasha was gushing about how much fun it was going to be that night, waving her arms as dramatically as ever.

“Who all’s going?” I asked her.

“Umm…” She thought for a second, then began to list people off on her fingers. “Let’s see…You, Eren, Connie, Reiner, Bertl…Annie, Mikasa…” I mentally fist-pumped the air. “Armin…” That fist-pump turned to a mental groan. “Uuuum…Krista…Ymir…and Marco. Did I forget anyone?” she asked Connie.

I raised an eyebrow. “Marco? That kid Armin brought over once?”

She nodded. “Yeah!”

“Why?”

“’Cause he’s pretty cool! I mean, not nearly as cool as me.” Sasha flipped her ponytail (successfully hitting Connie in the face with it.) “Plus, he’s a new kid and needs to make some friends. I thought, hey, why not invite him? If he turns out to be a dick, then we can forever ignore him and you can say ‘I told you so’, but whatev.”

I shrugged and kept eating. Whatever. She could invite who she wanted. I was just looking forward to hanging out with my friends. And trying to skirt around Armin…that wasn’t going to be as fun.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

When I pulled into my driveway around a quarter to four, I saw that it was empty. No one was home. Perfect.

I walked into my house. Sure enough, silence. Thank god. I wanted nothing more than a few hours to myself to prepare for the craziness that would be the party. I mean, yeah it wouldn’t be anything like a rave or like what Reiner dragged me to once (never again), but knowing Sasha and who all was going, it would be draining.

Going into the kitchen to grab some chips or something, I found a note on the counter.

_Jean,_

_I’m going to get my hair done and do a bit of shopping. I should be done in a few hours, but if I don’t get home before you leave, have fun! Be safe! If you need anything call us and we’ll be there. The jalapeños are in the fridge. Love you!_

_~Maman : )_

I rolled my eyes at the signature. I never even called her _maman_ anymore, unless her side of the family came over.

I grabbed a can of Coke from the fridge and a bag of Oreos.

 

An hour and an episode of _NCIS_ later, I decided that I needed to start getting ready. It was already four thirty. With a kick of my legs, I launched myself off the couch.

The first thing I did was take a shower. I’d had a really strenuous day in 5th period. Weight training. All of the football players had to take it every year. But after of a summer of laying around the house, I still sweated like it was my first day picking up a dumbbell.

So I hopped into the shower hoping it’d take maybe five minutes at most. But of course the water was really hot and made me sleepy as hell…

_Another minute or two can’t hurt…I’ve still got like, two hours, yeah?_

I stuck my face under the stream of hot water, sending a shiver down my spine. I had to plan how I’d go about dancing around Armin at the party. I knew he wouldn’t seek me out, so as long as I just stayed a good way away, I wouldn’t have to worry about him too much. But Sasha’s house was rather small. There wasn’t a lot of room to hide from anyone. Hell, you couldn’t hide from her fat old cat in that house and he moved about once every other year.

I sighed and ran my hand across my face. God, if I hadn’t been such a dick two years ago I could have avoided all of this. And maybe if I wasn’t such a coward perhaps I could avoid all this now.

Whatever. I turned the water off and shook my hair off. If I stayed in the shower anymore, I’d be late. I mean, I wouldn’t be the only one, but still.

I checked my phone when I got in my room. Fuck, I’d been in there for thirty minutes. Shower time went a lot faster than outside-of-shower time did, holy shit. Alright, forty-five minutes…

As quickly as I could, I threw on the jeans I had been wearing that day and a clean Trost High t-shirt. It wasn’t anything nice, but I wasn’t going to a dance. I was able to towel dry my hair and spray just a little bit of axe with twenty minutes to spare. Granted, it would take ten minutes to get to Sasha’s house, so really I only had ten.

As I was going downstairs to grab the jalapeños, my phone buzzed against my leg. I checked it.

 

**BOB MARLEY: hey**

I typed back.

 

**ME: hey connie**

**BOB MARLEY: hey so for some reason everyone is showing up already??? any clue y**

**ME: no? who all’s there**

**BOB MARLEY: ymir krista and marco all came over together like 5 minutes ago. mikasa eren and armin just arrived and bert just texted me saying that he annie and reiner are all on their way**

**ME: damn. am i gonna be the only one showing up late? isnt that everyone?**

**BOB MARLEY: yea. so i guess technically your the late one ha ha. get your ass over here kirschtein**

**ME: god dammit. fine im on my way**

**BOB MARLEY: sweet see you soon bro**

I groaned as I shoved my phone back in my pocket. Awesome, now _I_ was going to be the late one and look like the ass. With a groan and quick steps, I jogged into the kitchen. The cheese-filled jalapeños wrapped in bacon were sitting on the counter right where I left them. With a groan, I grabbed the Tupperware it was in, slammed the lid on, and grabbed my keys. They needed to be heated up in the microwave, but that would take up more time. It would have to do. I hoped everyone was okay with them cold.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

On my way to Sasha’s house, I watched as the area went from high-end, clean, and expensive to dingy, littered, and looking like no one had tended to anything in years.

Trost had two areas: the east side where I lived that was full of the well-to-do families who could afford huge mansions and sports cars that they didn’t even need, and the west side, that was far less wealthy and a bit farther away from the 1% dream of my area. It just so happened that Trost High School was the dividing line between them. Half of the students were from the wealthiest families in the area and the other half could barely even afford the lunches the cafeteria served.

Many of my friends lived on the opposite side of town. Connie, Sasha, Annie, and Bertholdt, to name a few. Out of them all, Sasha seemed the least embarrassed about it, which may explain why she always held these parties. If there was anything to admire about Sasha Braus, it was her refusal to be embarrassed about her situation. Little Miss Optimist.

 

I finally got there at about five fifty. Sure enough, there was Ymir’s truck in the gravely driveway, Mikasa’s car parked perfectly behind it, and Reiner’s truck was pulled up on the curve by the mailbox. Which left me with the brown spot of dead grass and dirt in the front yard. Wonderful.

I pulled up and pulled my phone out.

 

**ME: hey sash im here**

Practically five seconds after I pressed ‘Send’, the front door swung open and behind the screen on the front Sasha stood, jumping and waving like she hadn’t seen me just a few hours prior.

“JEAN!” she called out. “Did you bring the jalapeños?”

God, she was obsessed. “Yeah. They’re cold, though. I dunno if you want to heat them up or something.” I leaned into my car and grabbed the Tupperware.

She pushed open the mesh screen on the door as I lumbered up the broke, peeling white front steps. “Psh! Who cares? They’re still delicious. Come on in! You’re the last one here, you know.”

I walked in and immediately was hit with the familiar scent of cat, dirt, dust, and cinnamon candles. If there was one thing I’d learned about the difference between an expensive, huge house like mine and the one-story, well-worn houses like Sasha’s was that the houses on this side of the metaphoric track smelled homier. Like people actually lived in them. They were welcoming and warm, unlike mine which always smelled of new paint and chemical cleaner.

The red-headed girl grabbed the snack from my hands. She looked like she was going to inhale them if I let her. “I’ll go put these bad boys in the kitchen. Most everyone is downstairs but I’m not gonna stop you from wandering around.” She turned and fucking _skipped_ into the kitchen. I rolled my eyes but was smiling. She could be really weird at times, but seeing as how I’d been friends with her since we were ten… It had to count for something.

 

I went down into the basement. As I went down the stairs, I could make out the sound of pop music playing off in the back room. It grew louder as I drew closer. God, was that P!nk? Who chose the playlists?

Sure enough, as I opened the door, I was greeted by the lyrics and polished instrumentals: ‘ _I~’m comin’ up, so you better get this party started~’_ This was definitely Sasha’s idea of a joke.

A sudden weight grabbed me around the neck and held me in a headlock. “Hey there, Kirschtein!” Reiner’s voice boomed in my ear, rattling my ribcage with its bass. “Good to see you made it! We were beginning to think you were gonna ditch.”

“Oh please,” I said, trying to push him off, but he was the star linebacker for a reason and at that moment I was finding out why first-hand. “ _I_ got here early. You all got here years before me, what the actual hell?”

He shrugged and nearly ripped my head off in the process. “Bertl was getting antsy so we decided ‘Hey, may as well head on, anyway!’ Turns out everyone had the same idea!”

Finally, the gigantic blond let me go. But then he clapped me on the back with his giant’s hands. If I wasn’t trained to take harder hits from bigger football players, I would have been sent rocketing across the room, no doubt. “Anyway. Have you seen Ymir? I need to give her her bra back.”

“Do I even want to know?” I asked, slightly horrified.

He scratched his head. “Well, it started out with her daring me that I couldn’t get my hand down--”

I held a hand up. “Nope. No, I don’t want to know and no, I don’t know where she is.” Reiner and his sexual escapades made me want to cry sometimes. “Where is everyone?” I took a full look around the room. It was empty save for the two of us, but there were plates and Solo cups sitting around, suggesting that it had been inhabited only a few minutes prior.

Reiner pointed towards the door leading outside. “Connie took Armin, Eren, Mikasa and that Marco kid out on a little adventure along a path to find a stream or something I dunno. Said they’d be back in a few minutes. I’m guessing Krista’s with Ymir aaaaand…I think Annie is upstairs with Bertl on the back deck.”

I nodded. “Okay, cool.”

He smiled and grappled for his back pocket. He drew out a pack of cigarettes that he’d disguised as a box of gum. “Want one?” he said as he pulled two out. “I was gonna go outside for one.”

I looked at it for a moment before accepting it. “Yeah, sure. Got a light?”

He pulled a lighter out too before turning and walking out the sliding back door.

I followed him outside. It was already mid-August, but it was unusually warm for this time of year. It was humid and made me regret wearing jeans. My t-shirt began to stick to my back and my hair felt scratchy against my forehead. Even though it felt warm and the sky looked pretty perfect, it had this looming feeling of hurricane season heading in. It felt…ominous. Almost threatening.

Reiner lit his cigarette, then let me light mine. The smoke filled my lungs and – because I didn’t smoke all that often – it made me cough, but not nearly as much as it had three years ago when I first snuck a puff from my one of dad’s. It felt good.

“So,” Reiner said. His nearly gold eyes stared off in the distance. To any average on-looker, Reiner Braun would appear to be just another, air-headed jock who only cares about himself and the football field. But when you go to know him like I had over the past 3 years, you could see just in the way he looks at things that he’s far deeper and more complex than that. “You excited for season?”

I drew a deep breath in, then exhaled through my nose, watching as the smoke danced in front of my eyes, then disappearing into nothing. “Yeah. I feel like this is gonna be a good year.”

Reiner chuckled. “God, I hope so. This is my last year so I’m sure as hell gonna make it count. Last year to beat those damned King’s asses.”

Ah yes. The Kings. Trost’s biggest rival. I knew how much Reiner wanted to win a game against them, since we hadn’t for six years. I smirked. “I’m sure you will. Let’s hope Levi chose well on those freshmen. We’ll need all the help we can get after losing Rodgers and Harrison.” Some really good linebackers last year.

Just as I dropped my cigarette and crushed it under my foot, there was rustling around the trees just a few feet in front of us. Suddenly, Connie’s shaved head popped out, covered in leaves but also smiling widely.

“I showed them the creek! But it was pretty much dried up,” he said. Around him emerged Eren, then Mikasa who looked perfect as always, then Armin who was spitting a leaf out of his mouth, and finally Marco who was laughing about something.

“Connie, you are a Class-A dork, you know that?” Armin laughed. My stomach churned and I stared at the dirty laces on my Nikes.

I heard the door open next to me. Ymir and Krista walked out, each with a Solo cup in their hands. The taller of the two saw me and threw an arm around me. “Oh hey there, Muffin Top! Good to see you!” She ruffled my hair. Then she looked up and saw the four kids picking leaves out of their hair and clothes from their walk in the woods. “I take it you’ve met my lil’ bro?”

My eyebrows furrowed. “What? Who?”

“Well…half-brother…” she said with a shrug.

I had no idea that Ymir had a half-brother. I had no idea that she had any siblings. But looking at everyone around me, I could only single one person out to be a contender. “Marco?”

She, like Reiner, clapped me on the shoulder. “Hell yeah! Hey, Marco, c’mere.”

The boy looked up. He glanced between the two of us and stepped forward. When he got close enough, she threw her other arm around him. I could see the resemblance. Tall, freckles, dark eyes, black hair. Ymir had darker skin than he did, but I had to admit, I could see it. Didn’t mean I still wasn’t really confused.

“So wait…I didn’t know you had a brother?” I said. Granted, I didn’t talk to Ymir that much, since she was not only a Senior, but also two years rather than one older than me (something screwed up when she went into Kindergarten or something so she was going on 19 in February rather than 18).

“Half,” Marco corrected. “Um…our parents divorced and I lived with my dad. But I moved in with my mom over the summer.”

“Why?” I asked.

Ymir immediately hit me upside the head. “God, Jean, don’t be fucking rude.”

“Damn, sorry.” Not wanting to deal with this awkwardness anymore, I ducked out from under Ymir’s arm and slipped inside to grab some snacks.

 

Ten minutes later, everyone had found their way into the basement. Little by little, everyone seemed to get the same idea to sit down on the couches and floor between them to just talk. I joined them, sitting between Connie and the arm of the dusty couch.

Sasha happened to be the last one to sit down. She did so by plopping down on the arm opposite me, next to Bertholdt. “So,” she said as she crossed her legs. She was looking at Marco. “You planning on doing any clubs or sports or anything?”

Marco, who was sitting on the floor between the ends of the two couches, sat up at the attention. “Oh, um. Yeah. I was hoping to join uh…d-drama club…”

Oh Lord, he’d released a monster.

Sasha gasped loudly. She nearly spilled her drink on Bertl as she shot up straight. “I didn’t know you did drama!”

Marco seemed to relax at this discovery. I guess he’d thought he’d be labeled a geek or something for being into drama.

“I’ve done it since freshman year, ah!” she exclaimed. “What part are you planning on trying out for since the first auditions are in a few--”

“Actually,” Marco interrupted. He began to nervously pull at his sleeves. “I was going to do tech…”

Sasha pouted and deflated at this new declaration. “Oh. How come?”

Ymir glanced at her (half) brother, and he her. “Stage fright…” he offered.

Marco may have seemed timid and wary around strangers – as we practically were - but I didn’t buy that explanation for a second. Now Bertholdt? He wouldn’t get up on a stage if you paid him $100. But Marco gave off this vibe that not only would he be comfortable getting up on a stage, but that he’d be perfectly happy performing. This only made me wonder what it was that was keeping him from doing so.

The red-headed hostess sighed and leaned back on the back of the couch. “Damn. Oh well. Well…do you like musicals?”

He beamed. “I _love_ musicals!”

“SAME!” Sasha shot back forward so fast, she did end up getting a few drops of whatever she was drinking all over Bertholdt. “Have you ever seen Putnam?”

Marco smiled wider than I’d ever seen him smile. However, before he could respond, Ymir groaned and rolled her eyes. “God, he never stops singing songs from that fucking show! If I never hear about that fucking magic foot song or whatever ever again, it’ll be too soon!”

Sasha laughed. Marco grinned bashfully. Sasha informed him of how that was going to be the spring musical they were going to perform later that year. For a good few more minutes, they talked all about drama and whatever Putnam was.

I had learned a long time ago that sometimes it takes a single person in a group to let you talk about that one thing you truly love to get you to open up to the entire group. Drama Club must have been Marco’s thing because – even after we moved on to talk about class and school – he began to joke and laugh with us more. He opened up and began to appear to become more confident and comfortable.

Even as it neared eleven and everyone began to go home in their groups, he seemed happier and far more sociable. I had a feeling we had a new member to join our group.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

When I got home, it was already twelve thirty. I’d been known to stay up way later, but all of the socializing and hanging out with the balls of craziness that were my friends was draining, just as I’d expected it to be. I fell face-first on my bed, ready to fall asleep just like that. But I knew that if I did, I’d wake up gross and sticky from sleeping in jeans. So I begrudgingly hopped around as I ditched my pants and to throw on an old concert shirt. I washed my face and brushed my teeth. Finally, with a contented sigh, I leaped into my bed and feel right into a dreamless sleep.       

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehe...yeah, sibling Ymir and Marco. Hope it's not to radical, but my friend and I find it a lot of fun to play around with. 
> 
> Also, "Putnam" is the shortened name for the show that my drama club is doing now, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee". It's amazing and hilarious, and I suggest you check it out rn!  
> The title in the last chapter btw is from the song "Heaven Knows" by The Pretty Reckless and this chapter's is "Everybody's Got Something to Hide (Except for Me and My Monkey)" by The Beatles (the only obsession of mine bigger than SNK).  
> One more note, those jalapenos they keep talking about is this family recipe which consists of putting cream cheese in hollow jalapenos then wrapping it in bacon and baking it. They're a m a z i n g .  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and the next chapter should get started on Jean and Marco's friendship!

**Author's Note:**

> This turned out a lot longer than I was expecting for a first chapter. Hopefully through these next few though the snowball'll really get rolling! Again, thank you for reading and feel free to comment. It would really help me! :D


End file.
